The Central Bus Station of Dimona

The story

The central bus station of Dimona stands in the center of the city, on Herzl Boulevard at the corner of Golda Meir Boulevard, not far from the entrance junction. It was designed by the architect Nahum Shani and was dedicated on 10 March 1976. The municipality allotted it sixteen dunams opposite the HaNitzachon neighborhood, which was then still in the stages of planning. The construction began in 1973 and was finished within a year, but the dedication was put off to three years later, apparently under the influence of the Yom Kippur War and because of bureaucratic obstacles. According to the historical archive of Egged, the original plan also included a garage, a fuel station, offices, shops and a restaurant. The building is a rectangular block with a wide visor canopy, which shelters the passengers and is carried on beams at equal intervals that create a rhythm along its length. Originally the canopy was exposed concrete; later it was painted white, and the beams and the columns green, in the branding colors of Egged. In the front is set an art wall by Gershon Knispel: an aluminum relief depicting the conquest of the Land and its division by Joshua son of Nun — a scene that refers to the mention of Dimona in the book of Joshua — and working into it hints of the present. The joining of art to architecture was a wide phenomenon in the Israel of the sixties and the seventies. The station has closed, and most of the lines pass today on Golda Meir Boulevard.

• Public art
• Architecture and planning
• Dimona